Guild Wars Factions

"A good standalone game and an even better expansion pack."

You slowly step out into an unknown world. As you look around, you see a few characters standing around you. They start talking to you, explaining to you what is going on and how to interact with the things around you.

This is the world of Guild Wars: Factions. The game is either a standalone game or an expansion pack, which depends on whether you own the original copy of Guild Wars. The overall theme of the game is mainly Asian, which is a new take from the old game. This game does not have a new engine or game play, but rather more skills, a whole new storyline (which has somewhat been built on from the old game), and a whole slew of new monsters, items, and explore able places.

The story is based in the new continent of Cantha, which, if you own the original copy of the game, can be connected to the original continent of Tyria. You have a choice of 7 professions to choose from, along with the remaining 6 professions to choose from as a secondary profession. There are 13 missions in the actual continent of Cantha (not including the Shing Jea Monastery area, where you begin and learn how to play), along with quite a few competitive missions which do not influence the game too much and give personal gain. As you get deeper into the game, you are allowed to choose one of two sides, either the Kurzicks or the Luxons. The Kurzicks are somewhat of a gothic, dark, medieval group, which enjoy the classier things in life, such as art, music, singing, and fasion. The Luxons, however, are completely the opposite. They are the old school, hardcore fighters, who use turtles (siege turtles, that is), and who are prone to fighting. The choices are very diverse and are to your preference, but whichever side you chose is the side you will fight for.

Graphics (8/10)

Overall, the game has pretty decent graphics. They're fairly top notch if you play it at the maximum quality, but this does cause some lag for the standard player, unless you've got a very nice computer, which the majority of users don't. Lowering the graphics level is almost a must for most people, so they aren't always enjoyable. It could be crystal clear and look beautiful at the maximum level, or look like they threw it together in an hour or two at the lowest level.

Sound (7/10)

Hmm… When you see the characters talking, but not moving their mouths, that doesn't really intrigue you much, now does it? The voice acting itself is good and bad, with some problems here and there with which the voices are pretty awkward for the character they're representing, but they're decent. The effects and music in the game don't change too much, different areas have different music, but that set never changes, and the effects are also the same always. The occasional boom and magic blast can be turned off and you do have a set of 4 options for the sound levels, so it's more of your preference, but the game has nothing special in the area of sound.

Gameplay (8/10)

You can easily get a couple hours out of the roleplaying aspect of the game, but to really get the fun out of it, you need to get into the player versus player aspect to really enjoy how the game works. Killing monsters with some random players is fun, saving lives, doing the daily hero work, but when you get to group up with friends in your guild and get known by the players in the game, that's the real fun. You don't need to have a lot of time to do too many things, you can do it alone, with henchman (computer players), or with real people.

Community (6/10)

This area of this game is disappointing. There are a lot of immature little kids who like to run around, screaming “n00b! i just pwnz0rd u! hahah!”. Buying and selling isn't the easiest, and finding a group is hard with the slew of Warriors coming in, it's too hard to get a balanced team. You really do have to rely on a good guild to get through this game; otherwise it will be fairly hard, unless you've mastered the art of henchman, which a lot of players will do. It depends on what you enjoy, laughing at immature kids, or being serious and ignoring them. Either way, the community is something you'll have to deal with sooner or later and for the majority of the game.

Overall Review (8/10)

In conclusion, the game needs a lot of work. The expansion has only just come out, I mean, it's just a baby, but you could expect more. The game is great for those who want to have some fun and not pay $15/month for it. They're always giving updates, along with the numerous championships they holds for real life cash, which is very nice for the serious gamers. If you've got $40 or $50 and want a nice game to spend some time with, this game is defiantly the one for you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/06